Holy Crap it’s been a while

So it’s been a year since my last post. I didn’t seem to have time to search for a good photo gallery tool for my website and I decided I wouldn’t post until I got the whole gallery situation worked out. In hindsight that was a very bad decision. I mean a year? Come on, that is just crazy. Well the gallery section is done and I actually have a cool way of handling it thanks to a plug-in called Shashin. It creates a gallery based on the albums I have in Google Picasa. So if you have never seen my flickr page or my picasa page. Click on the gallery link up top and give it a look. Last Friday, I finally caved, I purchased myself and iPhone. I had resisted all this time and was doing my best to resist the temptation while being bombarded with news of its release all day, but I guess I saw one too many pictures of people leaving the store with huge grins on their faces, cradling their new shiny purchase in their hands. By the end of the work day on Friday, I had justified the purchase to myself. Email, Calendar, Internet, everything at my fingertips.  So I left work and headed for the apple store in the mall. Never once did it enter my mind that I might not be able to get one because I hadn’t gotten there early, but as soon as I walked by the roped off area designed to hold the overflow from the “real” line, the fear set in. Not 2 hrs prior to this I wasn’t even considering buying an iPhone today but now I was terrified that I would not be able to leave the mall with one in my hands. When I got closer to the store I saw, to my pleasure, there were two lines both with roughly 6 people in each. I felt relief, wonderful relief. I hopped in line and was prepared to wait patiently my turn to be escorted inside the store, when I was approached by an apple store employee asking what my reservation number was. Huh? reservation for the apple store? WTF? or as my wife would say “Seriously? Really?” I was then informed that the line I was standing in was for people with “reservations”. I on the other hand, would have to go see the “nice lady in orange” standing over next to the 15+ people in a maze of ropes.  It still didn’t seem that bad, the line was broken into two parts one by the door with 6 people and my area with 15+. So 20+,  that’s nothing, I was sure I was guaranteed a phone. But I stood there and saw one after another person with a reservation go into the store while my line hadn’t moved at all.  That’s when the fear came back. By the time I was next in line, my hands were clammy, I was nervous and when the person came to the front of the store and “Hi, my name is Shawn” I wanted to scream at the top of my lungs “FUCK YEAH, I’M GETTIN’ AN IPHONE BITCHES!”

Home Improvements

Check this out. I know it wasn’t on the list because I really didn’t think it was going to get done but with Jimmy’s help…volia!
BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

Local Restaurants

When it comes to picking a place to eat, me and my stepdaughter are complete opposites. When asked “Where do you want to eat?” she will undoubtedly choose a restaurant from her pool of four favorites and when presented with a choice that is not one of those four it is almost always met with resistance. Her favorite restaurant is Chile’s, my favorite restaurant is…anything but Chile’s When given the choice I would always prefer to go to a restaurant that I’ve never been to than a restaurant I know has good food. I look at dining out as a sort of tiny adventure, so the greater the unknown the greater the adventure.
On the instances that i join the battle to control the dining decision, I more often than not lose. Yesterday, I found out about this Lebanese restaurant up the street called Byblos, but even though i may be able to convince my wife to try it there would be absolutely no way i could get my stepdaughter there (well aside from putting her in a sack and dragging her there). Hopefully, as she gets older her tastes will broaden and at that point i will never eat at Chile’s again. I’ve had enough Chile’s to last a man 12 lifetimes. For those of you, like me, in the Atlanta area I suggest checking out Chow Down Atlanta. It’s a great foodie blog even if sometimes i think it focuses too much on those posh midtown places you would never find me at. Anyway, It’s not like I’m Chloe’s only reader, right?
As most of you know I love lists so i thought i would do two short ones of local metro-Atlanta restaurants i like and ones i would like to try.

Wasabi

I came across an article today on slashfood detailing the health benefits of wasabi. It’s down-right amazing how much good stuff is packed inside that little green paste. Anyway, I got to thinking as much as I love cooking Asian fusion cuisine, I’ve never played with wasabi. I’ve actually stuck mostly to traditional Korean ingredients cooking bulgogi burgers, spicy kimchi tuna lettuce wraps, kimchi fried rice and the classic kimchi jjigae. Wasabi mashed potatoes sound fucking awesome but i think I’ll have to pass on the almonds; I’m just not a big fan. I think mixing wasabi into a breading for fish would be a pretty kickass idea as well. Wait, what about an entire wasabi themed meal? It’s like “Welcome back to Kitchen Stadium, The secret ingredient for today’s battle is…Wasabi!” I can do this, some sort of wasabi breaded baked tilapia for the entree. Then those wasabi potatoes for a side dish. Hmm…I need some sort of vegetable…maybe a mix vegetable stir-fry, using broccoli, zucchini, snap peas, with soy sauce and wasabi. Then finish it off with some wasabi ice cream. Hell Yeah! I’m going to need to head up to the Super-H Mart this weekend so I can get started on at least those mashed potatoes.

I like lists

Just thought I would share this it’s kinda a combo “To Do” / “Wish” List.

*in no particular order

1. Lose 30lbs – I’m heading towards Jabba the Hut size without having leftover pizza
2. Finish The Color of Magic and start The Light Fantastic (the 2^nd Discworld novel)
3. Beat FFXII – I’m so behind on this it’s kind of pathetic
4. Install the ceiling fan in the guest bedroom – Speaking of behind, it was bought ‘07
5. Till the back yard – This involves renting a tiller If they were in order this one would be last
6. Cut down the small trees in the back yard – Nope, actually this one would be last
7. Organize the Garage – I actually have a day planned for this July 23. You can hold me to it
8. Reinstall Desktop – This is actually happening as we speak. 1 down many to go
9. Search for postcard collection in the attic. Not looking forward to this, Damn it’s hot up there
10. Purchase a new wireless router – set up using WPA instead of WEP and filter by MAC address
11. Purchase a new laptop – I’m thinking Dell I was thinking Lenovo but I think I’m back to Dell
12. Redo cable system under computer desk – Right now it’s like <this> but way shittier
13. Purchase an External HD – need some sort of backup system
14. Try and Locate a charger for Verizon Bluetooth Headset – if Clint will let me keep it
15. Remove The Judds from my ITunes Library – I swear to God that’s my wife’s music not mine
    
16. Buy another spindle of blank CDs and blank DVDs
17. Set up GA Power on Wachovia’s website – Why I did all my other bills and not that one, I have no clue

This could be badass

Sometimes I wish one of my hands was like “Thing” from the Adam’s Family. That way, when i’m asleep it could still be doing work and stuff. Like i would sleeping and it would be writing a novel or programming some web2.0 apps (See? I used a buzz word so that makes me automatically important). Working those late hours I would imagine my hand would probably get pretty hungry and then it would order some pizza. When the pizza guy shows up, well “of course” my hand couldn’t eat any of it…because hands don’t have mouths. So, every morning I would wake up and I would have to deal with left over pizza. Now that I think about it I’m not sure if it’s worth it. I mean all that pizza and i’m going to end up huge. I’m talkin’ about Jabba the Hut fat.

A day at work

To go with my posts about my new job here’s a picture of me at work.

Work. Can I have some?

I haven’t written anything in a long time but that doesn’t mean nothing has been happening. Let’s recap:

went to my first Braves game

saw Peelander-Z live in concert

Have been kicking ass at my new job

went to florida

So, I guess I’m going to bore everyone and talk about work once again. It’s my site so I can do what I want. My official title is Internet Software Developer Sr, and as I said before I’m tearing ass around the office. So much so, that the project managers (the people who assign work) can’t keep up. I’m not sitting there trying not to do extra work. I mean without the internet the only fun I have is to do actual work. So, I’ve asked my manager for work, nothing. I asked his manager for work, nothing. I asked a co-worker and got some work for a day. Now he won’t give me any more work. WTF Mate!?! I guess I can start using my spare time writing code for myself. Not a bad idea. I just have to be quick with the idea so I don’t get beat again. DAMN YOU tastyplanner.com

First Week

Another broken promise. Did anyone actually think that I would post when I said I would? Starting a new job is always stressful for me, I don’t think I’ve had a good night sleep in the past 3 days. It’s not the job’s fault, my new job isn’t that stressful at all, it’s that in my head I add unneeded stress to the situation. It should pass shortly. Other than that, I’m surprised at how well everything else is going. The first day there was a literal “crap load” of information shoved into my head and somehow it all managed to stay in there. Everything is mostly positive, the people are very nice, my schedule is still flexible like my old job, but there are some negatives. Network traffic is monitored and filtered. This isn’t that big of a deal since I’m not into surfing porn in public places. They do, however, block google apps, and this is where i have a problem. How can i survive without my google reader? The answer…I can’t . So goes that saying, “where there’s a will there’s a way”. We’ll just say…I’m still getting my lolcat fix.

Change

Today is my last day at my current job and tomorrow I start a new job (YAY! for the long vacation in between). I’m not leaving with any hostility or negativity, I just couldn’t pass up this new opportunity. If I did, I would have had to hit myself repeatedly (in the face). I have really enjoyed working with the people here and I hate to leave, but hopefully I can keep in touch with them. Lately, I have been giving a lot of thought of my “dream job”. Don’t get me wrong i love my profession and i am extremely happy writing code, but out of all the professions past and present what else would i choose. When i was younger my dream was to be a cartoonist but now, after much deliberation, I think I’ve veered off in a different direction. I want to be an explorer. I love seeing new places and meeting new types of people. That is quite different than being a software developer. One is sitting in front of computer, the other is outside exploring the world. It would make sense if I didn’t enjoy my current profession but it’s weird how I can be happy doing two completely different things…Anyway, I’m quite excited about my new job. I love change and the thrill of trying something new. I’ll post and update on how my first day goes tomorrow.
-by the way if any of my readers are looking for a job and have some experience with C++ or Perl, there is a employment opportunity that i know about. A company in the North Atlanta area just lost an AWESOME developer and need to hire a new one.